System and method for capturing token data with a portable computing device

Title: System and method for capturing token data with a portable computing device.Abstract: A system and method for collecting and managing information taken from tokens, like credit cards and gift cards, includes a portable computing device (PCD). The PCD may support a token recognizer that may comprise hardware and/or software that may reside in memory of the PCD. The token recognizer may work in combination with a camera. The token recognizer may comprise a broad recognizer module and an optical character recognition (“OCR”) module. The camera of the PCD may capture images of one or more physical tokens. These captured images of the physical tokens may be processed by the token recognizer so that digital images as well as data provided by the physical tokens may be maintained in memory of the PCD for later presentation to the user. These later presentations on the PCD may be used for account management and for conducting transactions, such as making payment at a point-of-sale (POS) terminal. ...

The Patent Description & Claims data below is from USPTO Patent Application 20120099780, System and method for capturing token data with a portable computing device.

PRIORITY CLAIM AND RELATED APPLICATION STATEMENT

This application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. §119(e) to U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61/405,722, filed on Oct. 22, 2010, entitled, “System and method for capturing token data with a portable computing device,” the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference.

DESCRIPTION OF THE RELATED ART

Portable computing devices (PCDs) are becoming necessities for people on personal and professional levels. These devices may include cellular telephones, portable digital assistants (PDAs), portable game consoles, palmtop computers, and other portable electronic devices.

PCDs are often utilized to conduct financial transactions. For example, PCDs may be used to check bank account balances, transfer funds between bank accounts, and for paying bills. While PCDs are useful for these types of transactions, there is a growing need in the art for utilizing PCDs in other types of transactions.

These other types of transactions may include those in which physical tokens, such as credit cards, gift cards, and stored value cards, are typically used. One problem faced by many consumers is that each consumer may be issued a separate account corresponding to a single merchant or single service provider. Often, the merchant or service provider will send each consumer a physical token that corresponds to the account. Each physical token typically has account information provided on it as well as machine-readable codes so that point-of-sale (“POS”) terminals can easily process these machine-readable codes.

In addition to machine-readable codes, each physical token usually has human-readable codes as a back-up for the machine-readable code if the machine-readable code fails for a particular transaction. In some instances, a merchant or service provider may not have a machine reader to read the machine-readable code. In such scenarios, the human-readable code may be used.

Physical tokens may also be required by merchants or service providers as a form of identification of the consumer and his or her corresponding account. Often, physical tokens may be required by a merchant or service provider so that any value associated with the token may be redeemed by the consumer.

If a consumer has a plurality of accounts, such as on the order of five or more, then the consumer will likely carry the same amount of physical tokens on his or her person. This can be problematic because the physical tokens do consume space and do require the consumer to remember to carry them on his or her person. If a consumer has ten or more accounts which corresponds to ten or more physical tokens, then the management of these physical tokens becomes significantly burdensome and problematic for the consumer.

Accordingly, what is needed is a system and method that may overcome the problems associated with physical tokens. Specifically, a system and method is needed for eliminating the use of physical tokens for various types of transactions so that a consumer may track one or more accounts with merchants and/or service providers with ease.

SUMMARY

A system and method for collecting and managing information taken from tokens, like credit cards and gift cards, includes a portable computing device (PCD). The PCD may support a token recognizer that may comprise hardware and/or software that may reside in memory of the PCD. The token recognizer may work in combination with a camera. The token recognizer may comprise a broad recognizer module and an optical character recognition (“OCR”) module. The camera of the PCD may capture images of one or more physical tokens. These captured images of the physical tokens may be processed by the token recognizer so that digital images as well as data provided by the physical tokens may be maintained in memory of the PCD for later presentation to the user. These later presentations on the PCD may be used for account management and for conducting transactions, such as making payment at a point-of-sale (POS) terminal.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In the Figures, like reference numerals refer to like parts throughout the various views unless otherwise indicated. For reference numerals with letter character designations such as “102A” or “102B”, the letter character designations may differentiate two like parts or elements present in the same Figure. Letter character designations for reference numerals may be omitted when it is intended that a reference numeral to encompass all parts having the same reference numeral in all Figures.

FIG. 1A is a diagram of a wireless portable computing device (PCD) coupled to a wireless communications network which are integral parts of a system for capturing token data with the portable computing device;

FIG. 1B is a view of a first side of an exemplary token;

FIG. 1C is a view of a second side of an exemplary token;

FIG. 1D is an exemplary first image capture comprising a plurality of tokens that are positioned such that a first side of each token is viewable by the camera of the PCD;

FIG. 1E is an exemplary second image capture comprising a plurality of tokens that are positioned such that a second side of each token is viewable by the camera of the PCD;

FIG. 1F is an illustration of exemplary display screen of a PCD which provides a user interface that lists the tokens that may be recognized by the system and tokens which may not be recognized by system;

FIG. 2A is a front plan view of a first aspect of a portable computing device (PCD) in a closed position;

FIG. 2B is a front plan view of the first aspect of a PCD in an open position;

FIG. 2C is a block diagram of a second aspect of a PCD;

FIG. 2D is a block diagram of a general purpose computer that may embody a PCD;

FIG. 3 is a diagram of an exemplary touch screen display for a PCD;

FIG. 4 is a diagram of a screen for displaying a listing of balances for accounts corresponding to tokens that have been processed and stored by the token recognizer and which are available to a user of a PCD;

FIG. 5 is a diagram of a screen for displaying an exemplary redemption presentation of a digital token to a user of a PCD;

FIG. 6A is a diagram of a screen that lists options for managing an account previously associated with a token but now captured and displayable on the PCD 102 via the token recognizer;

FIG. 6B is a diagram of a first detailed purchase/redemption presentation screen comprising scanned elements from a token for a transaction, such as, but not limited to, a stored value transaction;

FIG. 6C is a second diagram of a detailed purchase/redemption presentation screen comprising scanned elements from a token for a transaction, such as, but not limited to, a stored value transaction;

FIG. 6D is a third diagram of a detailed purchase/redemption presentation screen comprising scanned elements from a token for a transaction, such as, but not limited to, a stored value transaction.

FIGS. 7A-7C are flowcharts illustrating a method for capturing token data with a PCD; and

FIGS. 8A-8B are flowcharts illustrating a method for managing token data captured by a PCD.

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20120426|20120099780|capturing token data with a portable computing device|A system and method for collecting and managing information taken from tokens, like credit cards and gift cards, includes a portable computing device (PCD). The PCD may support a token recognizer that may comprise hardware and/or software that may reside in memory of the PCD. The token recognizer may work |